Post by Simon Benjamin on Jun 5, 2013 22:11:43 GMT 10
Double Cross Chapter 1 (Ritter Park) won the grand prize of the Deus Ex Fan Mission Contest and rightfully so. It is one of those really rare missions/mods that seems like an actual extra slice of Deus Ex. It has the atmosphere, mystery, right amount of balance and utilised the Deus Ex assets superbly. It preserves the spirit of freedom of choice while having a focus on the simple but engaging plot. There are two levels in this fan mission; JC's new apartment and Ritter Park. Both levels have nailed the Deus Ex atmosphere and have a lot to explore. There's a balance of small linear focused segments and open ended hub like spaces. They are well lit and enemy and item placements are well balanced and stay true to the Deus Ex formula, if there is such a thing.
Non lethal materials are scarce with mainly lethal weapons and ammo placed which adds a great amount of challenge to being non lethal. Commandos are thrown in but careful planning to get up close will allow one crossbow head shot to take care of them and you can only get the trusty baton by taking out a cop, making the rest hostile as it is part of a side objective. There's just enough non lethal catering to ensure you don't have to kill anyone in this mission which is a huge plus! Notes, both ones with logins and ones with contextual information are well placed and written. Also, the importance of survival is emphasised in this fan mission more than any other mission I have ever played. Medkits are very scarce even for explorers and a very nifty secret area requires a small dosage of radiation. Planning and use of resources is so much more important and must be wisely used, adding to the immersion.
Due to a lot of the enemies having the 'Standing' order, peeking out of corners too much can make them indefinitely stay in the direction they look when they try to spot you can be frustrating especially when going non lethal and when in linear areas. Additionally, the ending part involves spawning massive amounts of troops in a linear area forcing you to confront them which can be hardening for non lethal players. However, there is body armour in the level and medical bots in major "plot areas" which make up for it. The placement and of augmentation canisters along with aug upgrades and are extremely excellent. Unfortunately, the augmentations are not that useful. The designer forgot to make enemies hear sound, which both allowed for exploitation of AI and makes the silent running aug useless. Also there could have been emails in computers other than JC's one to add more background to the story, though the several newspaper articles scattered in Ritter Park do still create a deep background context. And with the last of the negatives, the ending part is like the end of the cemetary mission where there is a helicopter right near the newly spawned enemies, making it awkward. At least we didn't need to defeat the last wave of enemies to trigger the helicopter arriving but perhaps adding those extra subway troops was enough.
I'm not giving a score since using numerical scores is just ridiculous. This fan mission is definitely worth playing multiple times. It caters for non lethal players like myself which is great, for the most part has stealth, has a reasonable amount of background and focus to the story and gameplay is more thrilling than the last third of the original game. It definitely deserved winning that contest despite minor shortcomings.
Non lethal materials are scarce with mainly lethal weapons and ammo placed which adds a great amount of challenge to being non lethal. Commandos are thrown in but careful planning to get up close will allow one crossbow head shot to take care of them and you can only get the trusty baton by taking out a cop, making the rest hostile as it is part of a side objective. There's just enough non lethal catering to ensure you don't have to kill anyone in this mission which is a huge plus! Notes, both ones with logins and ones with contextual information are well placed and written. Also, the importance of survival is emphasised in this fan mission more than any other mission I have ever played. Medkits are very scarce even for explorers and a very nifty secret area requires a small dosage of radiation. Planning and use of resources is so much more important and must be wisely used, adding to the immersion.
Due to a lot of the enemies having the 'Standing' order, peeking out of corners too much can make them indefinitely stay in the direction they look when they try to spot you can be frustrating especially when going non lethal and when in linear areas. Additionally, the ending part involves spawning massive amounts of troops in a linear area forcing you to confront them which can be hardening for non lethal players. However, there is body armour in the level and medical bots in major "plot areas" which make up for it. The placement and of augmentation canisters along with aug upgrades and are extremely excellent. Unfortunately, the augmentations are not that useful. The designer forgot to make enemies hear sound, which both allowed for exploitation of AI and makes the silent running aug useless. Also there could have been emails in computers other than JC's one to add more background to the story, though the several newspaper articles scattered in Ritter Park do still create a deep background context. And with the last of the negatives, the ending part is like the end of the cemetary mission where there is a helicopter right near the newly spawned enemies, making it awkward. At least we didn't need to defeat the last wave of enemies to trigger the helicopter arriving but perhaps adding those extra subway troops was enough.
I'm not giving a score since using numerical scores is just ridiculous. This fan mission is definitely worth playing multiple times. It caters for non lethal players like myself which is great, for the most part has stealth, has a reasonable amount of background and focus to the story and gameplay is more thrilling than the last third of the original game. It definitely deserved winning that contest despite minor shortcomings.